Dahlia
by storiesrandom
Summary: Dahlia is a bright pink, 'very opened' blooming flower. Aurora is the opposite. She is a quiet girl, always in her own thoughts. She feels that people think she is a bud, waiting to bloom and be a Dahlia. What will the result be? How will her mother, her best friend Victoria, William and Jayden help her?


**CHAPTER ONE: VICTORIA'S PARTY**

~September 27, 2012~

The lilies, the silent listening companions that stood by the tall, square rimmed window of Aurora's mother's room poured their heavy, sweet scent into the room, and flooded it. As she stayed there, in front of the open closet she experienced a sensation, like her brain was internally bleeding. Of the smaller compartments of her mother's closet, her mother's Revlon lipsticks, eye-make up and foundations were neatly arranged. The larger compartment held various types of dresses. She moved her arm to her mother's white wedding dress to gingerly stroke the smooth, silken fabric. Her slender, soft right hand delicately traced the outline of the pinned blood red, fake but realistic rose. The textures made her hand feel mushy and numb.

She shut her eyes.

She pictured Jayden Sierra in front of her. In a tuxedo with his dark wide eyes and somewhat, 'boyish' carefree smile he stood tall, and proud. Surrounding them from both families, were close and distant relatives and old and recent friends. The loud chorus of sobs that emerged from the females of the room were drowned by the wedding music. The red, puffy eyes of both fathers that inevitable salty tears streamed out of, told that last night, they had heavily cried as well. Aurora's make-up however, erased and concealed all evidence. She wanted to know: Did Jayden, in extreme happiness, cry, last night as well?

Her voice with joy, almost yelled: "I do."

It was now Jayden's turn to say I do.

Silence…

"I D—"

_Ring ring ring!_

Aurora reached for her phone on her mother's bed. She flipped the cover open.

In a normal volume, she said: "Yes Victoria?"

"GILFRIEND!" the voice that replied back was very excited. "YOU MUST COME TO MY DANCE PARTY TONIGHT! SO ARE YOU COMING OR NOT?"

"Um…" Aurora sighed in her head. _Another of Victoria's parties. _She scarcely made her current headache escalate to a whole new level. She could already hear screaming girls, see the colourful flashlights, hear the loud club music. As she placed her right hand on her temple she gently squeezed it. Victoria was just too much for her. But her stomach performed a backflip at the fact that she_ had _to go.

"AND DON'T SAY NO GIRLFRIEND, BECAUSE WE ARE CLOSE FAMILY FRIENDS WE HAVE TO GO. MY PARENTS WILL SCREAM AT ME IF YOU DON'T GO."

She sank onto the bed. Immediately, she felt a sense of comfort from the cotton feel of her mother's home-made blue lace quilt. I have no option. I have to say yes, she thought. In her mind, she had considered and come to the resolution that as her fate was already identified agreeing straight away and therefore minus the argument was the brighter choice. She opened her mouth. But just as the forced words were about to emit, the next words of Victoria sent her heart racing to an inevitable extent. A mass of light butterflies suddenly flooded the cavern of her stomach.

"JAYDEN SIERRA IS GOING."

Her words stammered. "Woah, what?"

"YOU KNOW YOUR BOYFRIEND."

There was not one time that Victoria did not make their conversation sarcastic, even at such a meaningful topic to her. "He's not—I'll, I'll be there at 6." Her next words were rushed. "Sorry gotta go bye." A metallic sound that she somehow felt 'ringing' in her teeth was heard as she slammed her phone lid to end the call. The rapidly twirling butterflies ejected their poison. She felt so excited, like she wanted to scream. She prevented this by using her top teeth to crush her bottom pink lip. _Jayden Sierra is going…? Seeing his face… is enough for me._ Her hands supported her, as she heaved herself onto her two feet and walked a short distance to her mother's dresses to pull out a simple, yet pretty black, knee-high dress. _I'm getting too old for denying the fact that I want him to notice me._ _Tonight's the night._

In her small bathroom, Aurora was perched on an old, wooden stool. Her legs were perfectly aligned to the ground and her fair, feet straight. Her straightened black-brown hair complimented her simple, pretty and feminine black dress. With foundation dabbed onto the make-up brush, her mother delicately patted it onto her face. "Is there a boy you want to impress?" As she murmured her voice shook. _She's really concentrating._ Aurora thought. _That's why her voice is shaking. She wants this make up to be perfect._

"Um—"

"You're getting older you know. You're at the age where you should just admit it. You can't keep denying for the rest of your life. How are you ever going to be happy and comfortable with who you are as a person if you are not true and always hiding...? When you get older and wrinkled like me, you are not going to get as much attention from the males. You are smart nice you can do it Aurora. Any guy will be lucky to have you as a girlfriend."

Her face turned pick. But she knew that to minus the argument and pointless chatter that would follow, she should just say it. Mother's knows best. She thought. "Jayden Sierra."

"Is he ugly?"

She shook her head.

"Is he smart?"

She nodded.

"Is he sweet?"

She nodded.

After her mother rested the foundation brush onto the white sink, she placed her right hand onto her daughter's bare, fair shoulders. As her mother moved her head up and down with widened eyes, Aurora watched curiously and in perplexity. _She's implying that she's okay if I go for him… and that I should? _Before she had the chance to react, Aurora's mother turned the switch of the sink and pumped orange hand sanitiser into her palm. The sound of rapid water escaping into the basin reached her ears, and drowned the sound of her own thoughts.

Aurora's mother hit the brakes. All audible sounds that had emerged from the car disappeared into thin air. Her mother had halted at a red brick two-storey house. Aurora rolled down her window screen to get a better look at the house. _Did Victoria change anything about the house?_ she thought. After three seconds, she came to the conclusion that she had not. _That's odd. It's a dance party but she hadn't changed anything_. Aurora, could still see the pot plants that were perched silently on the balcony, she could still see the five gnomes sitting on the lush, green grass. Peculiarly, the car was not moved into the garage in order to provide more space.

Was there really a party occurring here?

_Bam!_

As the currently closed wide main door flung open all of a sudden, a girl darted towards her. A gorgeous site of Victoria with curled black hair wearing a striking black dress confronted her. Whilst speaking to Aurora at that moment, a great sweetness was evident in her tone. Instantly, Aurora was aware of the reason. Victoria wanted to show her mother's best friend that she was a good influence towards her daughter, and Aurora's mother made sure that she was, otherwise, she would go as far as to end the relationship that she and Victoria's mother had together. Ten years of being best friends, was too long and too memory filled to throw away, so Victoria's mother made sure too that her daughter was being a good influence to Aurora. Victoria was very good at 'pretending'. "Hello, Jade."

"Hello how's Rose?" Jade replied.

"Good." Her voice sounded as though she was trying to remain calm. But her rushed tone next told that she could no longer do this. "Can Aurora come out now?"

Jade took of her black sun glasses to show the expression written in her eyes. It said: Be good girls. I got my eye on you. You know what's going to happen. "Be sensible." She said.

Victoria nodded her head.

Aurora pushed open the car door and stepped onto the grey, trodden road. To prevent herself from hurt, Victoria had already moved away from the car door. Aurora felt Victoria's sweaty palms coil around her thin left wrist, and herself being gently pulled into the brick house. For a wave to Jade, Victoria did a twinkle of her fingers and a wide smile to her. In response, Jade normally waved her hand and then started the car. "Bye Aurora, bye Victoria." Within ten seconds, she zoomed out of sight.

Aurora turned her head back to where the car was originally sitting. _She's really gone… there's no turning back now. But, I guess the party isn't going to be wild, because the gnomes that give this older appearance to the house is still there._

As Victoria's door opened, Aurora's heart pace instantly skyrocketed. Swarms of teenagers holding alcoholic drinks were gathered around all parts of the room. No music was audible, not a chatter.

"START THE PARTY PEOPLE!" Victoria yelled.

Instantly, the entire place went _alive_. As soon as the bass music pumped up, everyone was dancing. Screaming. Everyone was everywhere. Like her life depended on it, Aurora clutched onto Victoria's bare arm. "Don't worry!" Victoria yelled. "I'll take you to a more quieter room!"

Aurora, who had forgotten about all reasons she had come here, for her mother, for Jayden, nodded, and allowed her friend to escort her to this much 'quieter' room. And no, she was not lying. The sound of newly hit songs reached her ear, allowing her rapidly beating heart to decelerate.

Victoria pointed to a yellow door at the back of the room. "That's a more quieter room. Goodbye." She exited the room.

Aurora was by herself.

~01/08/12~

The heavy blanket of evaporated sweat surrounding her, made her feel unclean. She watched the dancing bodies of both girls and females. She had searched for a chair within this bare room minutes ago, and found nothing. Now, as it would be suspicious she was unable to seek security and shelter in her quiet, safe home and had to stand on both tired feet. She moved the sweaty arms pressed up against the wall which supported her body from falling and endeavoured to walk around the room.

Walking around, Aurora witnessed some people from her school. But she not once saw Jayden. _Jayden!_ She thought, and her eyes were suddenly alert. Once again, a swarm of light butterflies filled the cavern of her stomach. She gently, softly placed her right hand onto her mouth. _I might see Jayden tonight_. Suddenly, she felt manly hands coil roughly around her left wrist. She immediately realised the dominance this male had over her. _Jayden?!_ She thought and secretly hoped.

Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled up against a soft wall. _What's happening?_ She thought. Then she felt two arms wrap themselves around her body. _I'm being hugged!_ The closeness and the arms around her made her feel secure and her face was comfortable in this 'soft wall'. _Am I dreaming?_ Hoping for answers, she looked up. No, it was not Jayden.

And it was a male.

_William?_ Her eyes widened at this. William was a boy from her school. With prominent headphones in his ear and wearing some sort of black hoodie or shirt, she'd usually spot him in the school grounds.

_Aurora walked past the wide, opened green back gates of Perriwood high school. Her heart was relieved that it wasn't locked like the front door. She went to get a late pass from the school office. Wearing a pink business suit, a blond 40 year old lady gave her a late pass. "Thank you." She said, and headed towards English. _

_Usually, to get to English, she would have to pass the History and Math blocks. Sighting Egyptian posters and pyramid models, it was time to pass music. She could already see the sea of some old and new chewing gum carelessly stuck onto the walls of the music block. In year 7, she remembered how she got some stuck on her bag and had to use a lollipop stick to take it off. She encouragingly thought to herself: After the music block, its English, come on Aurora, you're nearly there. _

_Just as she was passing the music block, a rap reached her ear, which had a deep, manly, relaxed, 'in the groove' tone to it. She knew that he knew what he was doing. As she walked closer to the English block, possible confrontation with this rapper neared. Until she had finally reached him her heart only continued to increasingly accelerate. Passing the dark music block, that was sort of like a dome to prevent as much sound reaching the history block, light finally reached her eyes. _

_The sight of William, hands in his pockets, eyes closed in front of a wall sitting with Jayden on the guitar was seen. Now, instead of rapping, he began to sing. A soothing voice somewhat like chocolate reached her ears. Her feet were suddenly super glued to the floor. She never knew he could sing this good! _

_Suddenly, she remembered finishing her math's work early, and looked around the room. With hand phones in his ear, she saw the calm, tall William attempting his work. He had black hair, fair skin, pink lips and was wearing a black hoddie. Then, she moved her head to secretly look at Jayden Sierra. Her heart jumped at the sight of him. As he was attempting to do his work, a girl tried to spark a conversation with him. _

_William stopped singing suddenly and looked at the astonished Aurora. He did not say hi, but basically stared at her. Aurora didn't know what to do to make it less awkward, but leave, straight away. _

Williams dark eyes stared down at her. Heavy butterflies filled the cavern all of a sudden and made her feel sick. At the speed of light, her heart raced.

"Please do me a favour. I choose you to do it because you look like the most sensible, nicest girl here and I know you from school." William looked over Aurora's shoulder and saw a girl with gorgeous black, wavy hair way past her back. She had olive skin and long, curvy eyelashes framed her dark emerald jewels. As she eagerly shouted Williams name, she pouted her big, curvy lips: "WILLIAM! WILLIAAAM!" Heather stood on her tippy toes, looking past dancing couples or singles.

"Please, please. Just act like your dancing with me." William softly, and somewhat light growled. His pleading eyes widened.

_I can see that he's eager_. _But this is not normal and right!_ She thought. Because being in a males arm was too much to her to ask in this dance party, usually she would _really _want to be released. She supposed that she would feel uncomfortable if she had ever encountered a moment where William Singe hugged her and randomly asked her to dance. Her dad had frequently hugged her as a kid but she had never been by a male. Not once. And since she didn't feel comfortable being touched, she refused to be by boys. But the warmness of the hug, the security that she felt, the peculiar comfort of his jaw on her shoulder and the _irresistable_ smell of his cologne… made her feel a purpose in life and comfort and not want to leave.

"She's looking for me." He murmured in her shoulder. His eyes gently looked up. "And please don't make it look so awkward."

"Why are you doing this…? You barely know me."

"I'm trying to hide from my girlfriend. Please… just go with it. I too _really_ don't want to do this."

_I should just leave it like that it's rude to ask further. I should try to understand, why is he doing this, why is he doing this?_ She quickly thought. It was impossible to think straight. Aurora then thought of moments where she wanted to hide but couldn't for the first twenty seconds. She then remembered how she dropped her mother's new expensive, crystal vase. The sounds of it reaching the ground similar to crying angels, the shattered fragments spilled on the floor like milk, reflecting bits of light that poured from the open door.

The door where her mum entered… There, where mother to daughter they stared into each other's souls. Then she remembered running for her life and desperately wanting someone to help her. Aurora closed her eyes, placed her arms around his waist and pulled him closer to her. Rihanna's song 'P.S I'm Still Not over You' played in the background.

"Thank you…" William said.

All she could think about was how awkward it was going to be back at school when they saw each other again. However, after two minutes the thought entered her mind:_ If Jayden Sierra did this to me, would I feel the same way?_

After that 'awkward hugging session' Aurora was too uncomfortable being in the same room as William Singe. As William Singe confronted his girlfriend and things looked as though something bad was going to go down, she left the second room to the quieter room; through that yellow door.

Passing that yellow door, John Mayer's 'Your Body is a Wonderland' reached her ear. It was the kind of music she liked, relaxing, soothing. She felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around, hoping it wasn't some other boy… hoping it was… maybe, Jayden?

She turned her head, and saw it was not jayden. It was Victoria with the widest grin on her face. 'So how is the day going?"

Aurora didn't want to tell what just happened with William Singe because she knew how big of a deal Victoria made such a phemonen as that. _What do I say? _She thought. "It was good."

Victoria laughed. "THAT'S GREAT?" _Why are her checks so red?_ She thought. _I can't wait for this! _"Hold on a sec. don't move okay." She turned around and reached a hand out to her. "Don't move okay?" She then walked towards a boy with spiked up hair, big red lips and fair skin. His long, thin but abundant eyelashes added to the striking and soft nature of his like bird-like eyes. He was holding a cup of orange soda and wearing a grey and blue shirt and brown knee-high cargo. Curving one side of his lip, he smiled a wide, carefree smile at her.

_Dance? She might ask._ Jayden thought. "Hi Jayden. My friend's over there. You know, Aurora at school?" Jayden's heart secretly raced at that name. _Cool… _he thought. _Normal._ "Aurora, the girl in our maths class?" he raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"_Well_, the rule here is that everyone is supposed to dance with two girls tonight. And who did you dance with?"

Jayden continued to look at Victoria with unmoving eyes, scarcely blinking. "Just you."

"Well that's one. Aurora's alone over there. Let a hot guy like you dance with her, and spare her the mercy of dancing with Ralf and Paul." She looked over at Ralf and Paul standing by each other, their bodies carrying excess layers of fat, faces red as they drooled very obviously over every girl in the room. Ralf and Paul suddenly turned their head to Victoria, at the sight of her their eyes widened. Jayden looked at them and then turned to her with a half smile.

"You see what I mean?!" Victoria grabbed Jayden's wrist and looked him in the eyes. "Do this for me and Aurora. That girl you were best friends with in third to fifth grade."

A quick time capsule of memories ran in Jayden's mind. Of the two digging in the dirt with paddle-pop sticks they had eaten together to burry their friendship bracelets that they had made for each other in art class. He remembered Jayden and Aurora sitting on the ground next together at every disco until 3-5th grade, sharing facts about their lives at disco as everyone danced. He remembered glancing at times at Victoria. He had already and only told Aurora that he liked her and thought she was pretty. He remembered playing handball with her. He remembered those moments when the ball went through the gate and down the road and how Aurora promised to get it back for him after school no matter what because she knew how much in trouble he'd be for losing one of dad's expensive tenis balls.

Jayden looked over Victoria's shoulder and Victoria turned around. _Hah_, she thought.

"I'm going now." He said.

Victoria ran off to the DJ and asked him to change the song to "Slow dancing in a burning room by John Mayer." As soon as the music started, Jayden turned around to her and shook his head. Victoria stuck her tongue at him. Aurora's back was on him. Jayden tapped on her bare shoulders. His arm felt tingly at the fact that he had touched her. He let out a deep breath.

Aurora felt a hand touch her shoulder. _Who is it? No_ Aurora she thought to herself. _It's not Jay_—she turned around, wondering what kind of peculiar moment will happen next. _Den…_ her eyes widened. Her heart raced. The cavern of her stomach filled with light butterflies again. _It's—It's Jayden!_

"Hi…"Jayden said. "Can you do me a favour?"

_Anything!_ She thought. "Depends…" she stretched the edge of her lip. Her eyes slightly widened.

Jayden rapidly breathed in a gulp of air. "Would you dance this song with me?"

John Mayer's 'slow dancing in a burning room' never sounded so loud. "Is that okay?" Aurora asked.

Jayden shook his head, with a 'of course face, she's so weird for asking.' "yesss…"

As she reached out to him, he took another deep breath, and rapidly said. "only because I want to impress Victoria… is that okay if you help me make her…"

Aurora already knew where he was hinting at. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to him. She closed her eyes as she did. Jayden closed his eyes and then put his arms around her waist. To Aurora, this was the perfect moment. She couldn't believe how, after 4 years of wait for a moment like this, it just happened in seconds. _I'm not going to let you go Jayden_, she thought. _Not again._

Jayden long eyelashes, gave a gentleness in his face.

_Jayden and Aurora were sitting right in the middle of it. They were staring at times at their feet, or at each other's faces. Jayden was wearing a t-shirt and a cargo, and Aurora was wearing a black dress with a blue and black peacock design. It was their year five formal. They had left the dancing area and walked with each other towards this talking area._

"_My mum won't let me do that." Aurora said. "They are always busy. No one can drop me off to like soccor, or guitar lessons…"_

_Jayden smiled. "It's okay."_

_A silence._

"_Do you think Victoria likes me?" _

"_Yes, of course. Everyone likes you Jayden."_

"_No, I mean, like, LIKE me." _

_Aurora nodded her head and looked at Jayden. "Yes."_

_Jayden looked up at the sky. "Hey! A shouting star!" _

_Aurora looked up at the sky. "No, it's an aeroplane!"_

"_A shouting star! Make a wish Aurora!"_

_Aurora got up on her feet and screamed: "I wish, that we would be best friends for ever and that Victoria liked Jayden."  
Jayden got up too. "You can only have one wish!"_

"_Say's who?" she yelled_

"_Me!" Jayden yelled._

_Aurora suddenly realised how serious Jayden was taking this, and laughed._

"_Why are you laughing, I said, you can only have one wish!"_

_Aurora began to laugh even harder. _

_Jayden watched Aurora silently with eyes wide, laughing so hard. Tears were falling out of her eyes and she clutched her stomach with both arms. He then looked down to her lips. His eyelashes and the mature shape of his striking eyes made his eyes unreadable. He leaned his head down and kissed it. _

_Aurora immediately quietened. Her eyes were wide. A silence. _

_Jayden's heart raced, he didn't know what was going to happen next._

_Aurora turned around and ran away._

_Jayden stood there by himself, right in the middle of the sprinklers._

Jayden looked up from her shoulder, his eyes this time, ungentle and expressionless. You didn't talk to me after that, and our friendship ended. He searched the room for the now, older Victoria and found her dancing with Robert. He turned his head to her neck. "She's over there. What can we do to get her attention?"

Aurora said gently: "I can't believe you still like her Jason..." _I wonder if he's way of talking has changed a lot_, she thought. _Boy's change dramatically in high school…?_

_Friendship in primary, she stills remembers it_. His eyes widened.

_Aurora's heart broke at that moment. He's liked her for that long? And he's not gotten her. I just want him to be happy, even if it means that I'm never, going to… her heart was now shattered. To have him… it's not about me… its not anymore._ She tried exceedingly hard to prevent the tears from falling down her eyes. "Anything that you want me to do." She said seriously. "I'll do it. If that will make her like you."

Jayden avoided analysing her recent statement, about why she said it so seriously, and then linking it back to his childhood days. "Let's move up to her."

They moved up to her. When Victoria's eyes were on them, he said. "Kiss me on the cheek."

To work out a position where Victoria would be able to see the kiss, she looked at Victoria. When she did, Aurora then placed both of her hands onto both sides of his neck. Then, she planted a kiss on his cheek. She then returned to wrapping her hand around his neck.

A few seconds past. Jayden was exceedingly glad that she was unable to see the redness of his face. He had been kissed by five other girls up until now. Some had even stuck their tongue in his mouth. But never had he been red at all. Aurora had scarcely pecked him on the check and butterflies were flying everywhere in his stomach.

"Did she see it?" Jayden pretended to ask eagerly after he was 'normal'.

"yes." Aurora said.

"Thank you."

That was two 'thank you's' she had received that following day.

She wondered whether boys were really _that_ special or whether they were worth that much of her time like Jayden had been, for the past four years.

Aurora had just finished a stack of homework. I guess I deserve to go on msn she thought. She went online and just as she did, a friend request popped up.

If this friend request had been requested a week earlier, she swore she would scream.

It was a friend request from Jayden Sierra.

For five minutes she actually thought about whether to accept or not. Before, she would even have to think. She would click on accept ten hundred times.

Then she shook her head.

_I want to be happy Jayden._

She moved her mouse over to decline.

_1, 2, 3_ she closed her eyes and squinted them hard.

Aurora clicked on the decline button.


End file.
